The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Is it considered "bad form" to remove somewhat worn felt on a turntable?

When it is necessary, how does one remove it and the adhesive? Could steaming or something like paint remover work to loosen the adhesive?

Also, what kind of adhesive is used to put new felt back on? Would spray adhesive work if one taped the sides of the turntable?

I don't see a problem replacing nasty turntable felt. Taking it off should be pretty easy, the original glue is usually pretty weak. You can use a putty knife to scrape it off then steel wool to get the rest of the glue off. At this point, you should polish the chrome on the rim of the turntable.

Go to a fabric store, get wool felt (not the pre cut circles you find online). Spray the felt with spray adhesive (I use 3M), and place the turntable on it face down then cut around the edge and the spindle hole with an exacto knife. It turns out much better than the pre-cut.

This is one that I did this way, I used an antique green felt that has natural variations in it:

I wouldn't replace the felt unless it detracts from the overall appearance of your machine. Of course that's personal opinion. You might post a photo of your turntable and you'll get other opinions. If you decide to replace the felt, do a search in this section of the forum for prior threads on felt replacement. Happy collecting, Jerry Blais

I posted this picture but be advised that my camera isn't the best.

The felt has a chunk O'Fuzz taken out of the top of it at about the 1 O'Clock position in the photo and acouple of dark brown stains. I don't know if it supposed to have a gouged out divit where a 10 inch record would go or not but is has a circular line at that point in the felt.

Hope the photo is good enough to make it out.

My XI turntable felt has the 10" line, and I often see this in other machine pix posted here, so I assume that it's quite common. Just what the cause(s) is/are, I don't know. I always try to be careful when placing the needle onto 10" records, but maybe if your party is loud and feelings are "high," it would throw off your aim.

I cleaned my tt felt with Woolite® and a toothbrush, gently and using more of the foam than the solution so as not to saturate the felt. That produced good results. Replacing that missing chunk is another order of difficulty, I would imagine.

I would not replace the felt when in the condition you show, I would carefully clean it. New felt looks too out of place on these machines in my opinion. I only replace when the felt is missing or unattached such as this example: http://forum.talkingmachine.info/downlo ... &mode=view

I have often thought that it would be worthwhile to be able to "patina" new felt to give it an appropriate look of age, but alas, it has only been thought

One thing it is not is coming loose. It is stuck tight to the turntable.

I will try to clean it as described in above posts first.

I just tried washing it. It didn't go too good. The felt must have been in worse shape than it looked.

I used the toothbrush as suggested but eveidently I was either too hard at brusing or the felt was weak. The circular divit at the 10" record mark is all the way down to the metal all they way around. The brown stains did not come out and I got a lot of dark green dye or deteriorated felt coming out in the wash. It is now about 2 shades lighter and very splotchy (<---is that a word? ) in its felt thickness.

Needless to say, it is time to refelt now but washing was worth a try. With as much gritty, deteriorated felt powder that that came out of the pad I'm actually glad to refelt after thinking that all of that felt powder was going to possibly get into the grooves of a record.

Brandon wrote:...This is one that I did this way, I used an antique green felt that has natural variations in it...

Brandon, Do you happen to remember where you bought the wool felt? Did the felt have a brand name?

I usually see only synthetic felt in the fabric/craft stores. The felt they sell does not come close to the weight or color of the original.

Would this work? http://www.thefeltpeople.com/pages/colo ... empora.htm
It is 100% wool, 16 oz and comes in moss and kelly green.

I'm not sure about the price or minimum order yet. I can't seem to find that information on the site. I'm sure they lean towards bulk sales but their site does advertise they take major credit cards and a ordering phone #.